Shimla (part 2)

---

The next day we said goodbye to our hosts and headed down a path this time and the scenery was even more beautiful. People would happily pay to go on hikes through this part of the country. I am not into difficult walks but this was something else.

Another maniacal 4 hour drive then we are back in Shimla at a more central and better hotel - or so we thought.

Shimla really is beautiful. Lots of little narrow markets, large wide walk ways with views of the Himalayas. Good food - even booze! The weather was cool but bright, we loved it.

The hotel certainly wasn’t 4 star, but was reasonably priced and boasted ‘hot and cold running water”. Some places only have cold. Unfortunately we only had water - hot or cold, for half the time we were there and had to call for hot and cold buckets to wash in. Not happy Jan! There were also monkeys that would try to have an afternoon nap with me if I left the door open. They walked straight in the cheeky devils. I had to jump and yell to frighten them away. It worked! Then there was one morning when I was looking for a comb in my bag and saw something move.....On closer inspection it was a very large grey spider. Anyone who really knows me will appreciate the horror I felt. I threw my bag onto the bed, where poor Monika was sitting and ran out of the room screaming. Two young men from the floor below came up to see what the trouble was. One took my bag and coaxed him out and shooed him away, all the while I was screaming, “Kill it, kill it”! My knight in shining armour got a big hug, poor bloke, I was just so grateful.

One afternoon we visited the Shimla museum, another hike up into the stratosphere and I took just 2 pictures. Loved the post box and the statue was the only guy I could find that appealed to me.

We left Shimla under a bit of a cloud. We had a huge argument with the manager of the hotel as we refused to pay the full rate because of the water situation and he threatened to call the police. I told him to go ahead but he called Pradeep instead, who was out getting a porter. In the end we put some money on the counter and left. He was not happy. At the train station, we kept waiting for police to arrive. That would have looked good on the blog. Pictures of me in handcuffs. Ha! Ha! It didn’t spoil our stay though, we still had a great time.

We departed for Chandigarh on the toy train, which is hugely uncomfortable, but slow (over 5 hours) and the views, well I am sure that you are by now fed up with hearing about the views. Incredible. It was worth the sore bum!

---